Stop robbing rich clubs: McGuire plea

Chief Football Writer for The Age

Eddie McGuire: ''There's plenty of ways of making money before we have to strip everything down from the successful clubs." Photo: Channel Nine

COLLINGWOOD president Eddie McGuire has pleaded with the AFL to stop draining money from the wealthy clubs to prop up those struggling teams that continue to drop behind at an alarming rate.

Responding to the competition's push to help create a more level playing field, McGuire had the following advice for the AFL: ''There's plenty of ways of making money before we have to strip everything down from the successful clubs.

''What's the point of going from great to good? The AFL have some very clever people working on its executive and we should have faith in them to come up with ways to raise revenue.

''Here's one idea: take the AFL logo off the front right-hand side on the breast of every players' jumper and put a sponsor's name there. There's $1 million for every club.

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''We have an AFL logo on the front of the jumper, two on each number, one on the hip, one on the leg and two on the socks. I think everybody knows that the AFL is running the competition.''

The AFL's tacit admission that it has botched its five-year plan to boost the struggling clubs from the $1.15 billion broadcast revenue has drawn a mixed reception from clubs, ranging from scorn to outright dismay.

The admission has come less than one year into the new equalisation plan's inception and some club chief executives have implored the AFL to hold firm and give those clubs more time to improve their balance sheets.

Collingwood is one of several wealthier clubs that have pointed out the league needs to become more imaginative in raising revenue.

''We've put more money in than we've taken out,'' said McGuire. ''Collingwood has always supported equalisation and has always voted to keep all the Victorian clubs alive, but what we need to do is remodel.

''I have absolute empathy to struggling clubs, but you have to question why taking money out of the gate is what always comes up in this debate.''

Fairfax Media revealed on Tuesday that at last week's meeting of all 18 club chief executives on the Gold Coast, the AFL had instructed each club to put forward individual submissions to find ways to increase revenue and help equalise the competition.

The AFL Commission fears the widening gap between the rich and the poor will ultimately damage the competition, crowd and revenue.

The league admitted at last week's conference it remained keen to buy Etihad Stadium in a bid to create better deals for tenant clubs at the Docklands but considered the asking price too high.

That move would provide a major fillip for North Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs and St Kilda - all of which received a massive chunk of last year's multimillion-dollar five-year distribution but all of which still struggle to break even.

CEOs also pointed out the AFL boasts a future fund from the previous broadcast rights deal worth close to $100 million and that wealth from broadcast deals had been ploughed indiscriminately into the two new clubs on the Gold Coast and in Sydney. ''Half the future fund has been spent on the two new clubs,'' McGuire said.

''At Collingwood, we meet on a regular basis to look at new ways of raising revenue and that is what the AFL should be doing. Why do we only have one car dealership sponsoring the game at a cost to the growth of other clubs? As I've said, you've got these great people at the AFL. Here's your next task: find some ways to fix this problem.''